Methaphors, stretched and bent, or hammered and crunched, are one of Judy Stein's favorite tools for spinning away facts that conflict with TM beliefs. In this post, Gibbs adeptly shoots down a particularly silly metaphor that Judy likes to float when explaining why TM hasn't delivered its advertised goods.
Judy Stein wrote:
> > >Ah, but TM most definitely was and still is talking about real
> > >floating and flying. It has just been completely open, since the
> > >mid-'80s, about the fact that they haven't been achieved yet.
"Brant" wrote:
> > I think that over a decade of failure should be adequate
> > reason to remove the claim from the literature.
Judy Stein replied:
> Why? Suppose it takes 20 or 30 or 40 or more years? Nobody
> knows how long it will take *if* it's ever going to happen at
> all.
>
> You wouldn't stop looking for a cure for AIDS just because one
> hasn't been found in, what, 15 years or so.
Your analogy is not correct. Searching for a disease cure (even though it
hasn't been found after many years) is not analogous to practicing the
TM-Sidhi program (even though it hasn't produced "yogic flying" after many
years). The implication is that, if years of failure don't stop us from
looking for new cures for diseases, then years of failure should not stop
people from practicing the TM-Sidhi program. The two concepts seem similar:
in both cases the behavior is motivated by the hope of eventually
succeeding. Beyond that, the similarities end.
In the development of a new drug therapy, my company (Iım a research
chemist) will spend 2 - 5 years performing clinical trials to determine the
efficacy of a drug. If the treatment is not efficacious, the compound is
abandoned and the search goes on. Continuing to use the same drug over and
over because we hope that it will eventually work is simply delusional
thinking.
In the case of the TM-Sidhi (NOT TM-Sidhis) program, the length of the
"clinical trial" is apparently measured in decades. According to the
organization, more than 80,000 people have been taught the TM-Sidhi program
since 1976. This represents an enormous "patient population." The "cure"
that is sought is enlightenment (unity consciousness, "CC" "GC" "BC" etc.).
One of the expected outcomes of enlightenment is "yogic flying" (among
other things). This has not been demonstrated publicly, ever.
I will agree that, just because the result has not yet been produced, it
doesn't prove that it won't happen in "30-40" years or sometime in the
future. There is always that possibility. Of course, there is always the
possibility that drug "X" will cure cancer in 30 - 40 years, when the
collective consciousness has been raised enough. But does it make any
sense to take drug "X" today in the hopes that it will someday cure cancer?
Continuing to search for a cure for aids involves the development and
testing of NEW drugs and NEW therapies. Doggedly practicing the TM-Sidhi
program is not even in the same ideological ball park. The technology is
frozen and there is (apparently) no room for improvement. In 1976, the
program represented a new development in "spiritual technology," but the
initial expectations of Maharishi were never realized. My own experience
with the program in 1991 (CIC #28) was very interesting, but that's a
subject for another time.
Practicing this program requires neither the principles nor the spirit of
searching for a cure. In the search for cures, innovation and exploration
are required. In the TM-Sidhi program, innovation and refinement (of the
techniques) have been eliminated (a necessary evil of any guru-based
technology). There is no room for other technology.
You may have good reasons for continuing to use this program, but spare me
your sloppy analogies.
Gibbs
Originally Posted:
Subject: TM-Sidhi: Hope for Success (was: Re: Bumpin' yer butt with TM)
Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 18:56:45 -0700
From: irreversible@hotmail.com (Gibbs)
Organization: Free Energy
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental, sci.skeptic
